Human beings have always been fascinated by the darker aspects of our nature. We are passionate and tormented creatures capable of snapping, lashing out violently, and even, in the most extreme cases, taking a life. Our pop culture reflects it. Just think of how much our entertainment media leans on violence, crime, and murder and the mystery and intrigue that surround them for material. Musically speaking, the murder ballad—a song that depicts a slaying, often sung from the perspective of a witness, the victim, or the actual murderer—dates back centuries to Scandinavia and the English- and Scots-speaking parts of the British Isles. The limits to the cruelty of these songs were the human imagination and the inspiration was often real-life crimes. In the centuries to come, many of these same songs made their way across the ocean, and an American tradition of murder ballads began to depict these gruesome tales from a new-world perspective.
The murder ballad, though not a sub-genre we commonly reference, has never entirely died out. It seems to have about as many lives as its songs have deaths. In the late ‘50s, folk-pop outfit The Kingston Trio scored a #1 hit with their modern reworking of “Tom Dooley,” an old North Carolina murder ballad. In the decades to come, everyone from Willie Nelson and Reba McEntire to Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Springsteen would leave the charts dripping with blood. While the murder ballad may have its American roots in folk and country traditions, it didn’t take long for other genres—like rock and roll, punk, pop, metal, and hip-hop—to try their hands at telling a grisly tale. If this list suggests nothing else, it should make it clear that murder ballads long ago stopped being strictly the province of fingerpickin’ white fellas. And, yes, female artists are now proving just as likely as men to delve into this lethal genre.
In 1996, 30 years ago this month, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds shone a fresh light on the genre with the release of Murder Ballads, a nightmarish collection of originals and re-workings. Cave’s theatricality, penchant for dark subject material, and knack for narrative proved a natural fit for the genre. Critics raved that not only was Cave telling ghastly stories but elevating the genre by building out rich worlds in which his tales unfurled. His unlikely duet with Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue on “Where the Wild Roses Grow” even became a small international hit. The haunting song, a duet between killer and victim, captured the flavor of ballads of old while pushing the boundaries forward of what a modern murder ballad could be and who might perform them. In that spirit, Cave’s deadly stroll down to where the wild roses grow seems like the perfect departure for a look at where the murder ballad has taken us since.
The murder ballad seems to be alive and well for lack of a better phrase. Artists from all walks are adopting the genre as a means of expression and even finding commercial success for their dark turns. In 2023, SZA scored a massive global hit with “Kill Bill,” her boyfriend-killing fantasy, and, just a few weeks ago, no less than Bruce Springsteen raised up his voice about the ICE killings in Minneapolis when he dropped “Streets of Minneapolis” in near real time. As we witness this genre continue to evolve before our very ears, let’s take a look back at the ten most diabolical modern murder ballads since Cave released his own collection three decades ago. These songs could give the Bad Seeds, Tom Dooley, and Frankie Teardrop nightmares—or at least pause for thought as death continues to find new life in music.
10. Okkervil River: “Westfall” (2002)
Okkervil River’s “Westfall” feels like a story being told by two very different narrators. In the first act, a haunting mandolin pulls us in alongside a panicked young man who finds himself surrounded by law enforcement. Frontman Will Sheff manages to win us over to the man’s side as he begins his account, surely a case of wrongful accusation or some other misunderstanding. By the time intermission ends and a full-band jam ensues, we’re quickly convinced we’ve been listening to the Devil himself. Inspired by the senseless (and recently solved) Austin yogurt shop murders, Sheff wanted to write about the desire to spot the evil in someone like his protagonist. “Looking for evil, thinking they can trace it,” he sings before his murderer concludes, “But evil don’t look like anything.” In other words, we usually won’t see tragedies like this one coming or be able to make sense of them after the fact. It’s a dark takeaway and one that Sheff has struggled with over the years. As much as “Westfall” lends itself to an energetic, cathartic performance, the singer has cited mixed feelings about fans “getting off” at shows to such a violent, disturbing song.
Most Sinister Sentiment: “And when I killed her, it was so easy / That I wanted to kill her again”
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9. Carrie Underwood: “Two Black Cadillacs” (2012)
No contemporary country artist has found more success dipping their spurs into the murder ballad genre than Carrie Underwood. And while the poison revenge of “Church Bells” became the bigger hit for the one-time American Idol winner, 2012’s enigmatic “Two Black Cadillacs” tells the far superior tale. A pair of somber Caddies in a funeral procession chauffeur a scorned wife and a mistress, each of them lied to and played for a fool by the man now riding in the casket. Underwood never reveals how these women did the deadly deed—the song’s music video suggests that they ran the man down in a, surprise, black Cadillac with a bit of Christine action going on—and that omission somehow makes it all the more satisfying when the two wronged women share a “crimson smile” and leave their secret at his grave. While Underwood’s take on the murder ballad tends to be more playful than haunting, it’s still chilling enough to make any country fan think twice before two-timing a woman who owns a black Caddy.
Most Sinister Sentiment: “They shared a crimson smile and just walked away / And left the secret at the grave”
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8. My Chemical Romance: “I Never Told You What I Do for a Living” (2004)
The murder ballad will never grow stale as long as newcomers continue to find fresh twists. On their sophomore album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, My Chemical Romance ushered in the genre’s emo phase. This concept record tells the story of a damned man who returns from Hell to rejoin his beloved. The rub? He’s made a bargain with the Devil and owes 1,000 wicked souls before he can be with her again. The thrashing, anthemic “I Never Told You What I Do for a Living” (great fucking title) closes the album and finds frontman Gerard Way’s protagonist agonizing over the blood on his hands and realizing that he’s actually fated to be the 1,000th evil soul; he’ll either be cast right back down into the fieriest pits of Hell or have to spend a summer folding t-shirts at a Hot Topic in the local mall. In the end, his murderous passion is the same thing that kills his hope for love. While MCR may not be everyone’s favorite cup of mascara, they creatively bent the murder ballad here to match their aesthetic and introduce it to an entirely new audience.
Most Sinister Sentiment: “Another knife in my hands / A stain that never comes off the sheets”
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7. Rihanna: “Man Down” (2010)
Murder ballads are taboo by nature. So, it’s not shocking that Barbadian pop star Rihanna caught some flack for including the murderous “Man Down” on 2010’s Loud. Some critics found its vigilante justice particularly tone deaf—and perhaps a condonation of retaliatory violence—given Chris Brown’s assault on her the year prior. In truth, Rihanna’s songwriting team had simply aimed to create a female version of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff” that also incorporated her Caribbean roots. The result boasts a dramatic vocal performance infused with infectious reggae and dancehall flavors that also presents a deep dive into the psyche following a crime of passion. Rihanna’s protagonist—a rape victim in the song’s music video—adopts a confessional tone, fearful of her predicament but also sincerely remorseful that she can’t un-pull the trigger and restore the life lost in a haze of gun smoke. Others have gone a step further and celebrated the song for allowing a woman of color to express honest, justified rage towards her assailant. Clearly, “Man Down” offers more to consider than just a chalk outline. Rum-pum-pum-pum.
Most Sinister Sentiment: “And I took his heart when / I pulled out that gun”
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6. The Killers: “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine” (2004)
It takes more than just an apropos band name to make this list. However, Brandon Flowers and The Killers more than earn their murder ballad stripes with “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine.” As Killers fans already know, the inspiration for this intense, driving Hot Fuss track came from the details surrounding the murder of Jennifer Levin by Robert Chambers aka The Central Park Strangler. It’s actually the final song of three (dubbed “The Murder Trilogy” by fans) that Flowers wrote about events surrounding the case. On “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine,” Flowers sings from the perspective of Chambers being questioned by authorities. As he lays out his account, we can feel the passion, agitation, and frustration growing under the hot lights of the interrogation room. As listeners, we’re left in the dark about Jenny’s “friend”—never learning if the song’s protagonist gets away with her murder or was even guilty to begin with. All we know for sure is that two decades later we’re still making a hot fuss about this phenomenal cold case of a murder ballad.
Most Sinister Sentiment: “She couldn’t scream while I held her close / I swore I’d never let her go”
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5. Taylor Swift: “No Body, No Crime” (feat. HAIM) (2020)
Here’s just one more reason—beyond the quick retribution of “Swifties”—not to piss off Taylor Swift. Armed with generational songwriting chops and a Jessica Fletcher-level passion for true-crime docs and podcasts, she not only knows how to off a foe but how to get away with the deed as well. After the COVID-inspired escapism of 2020’s folklore proved massively successful, Swift quickly reunited with the National’s Aaron Dessner for another batch of songs to stave off cabin fever and avoid pulling a Jack Torrance. With the Haim sisters on backing vocals, Swift spins this country-tinged, beat-driven fantasy about a friend avenging her best friend’s killing. Many of the best murder ballads are simple and vague, but “No Body, No Crime” draws us in with precise details and a growing string of clues: a suspicious credit card statement, a missed Olive Garden shift, a new set of tires on a truck, etc. It’s also clever how Swift recycles that chorus (“[I] think [he] did it, but [I] just can’t prove it”) to move the timeline along and indicate that the husband and mistress have gotten their just desserts while Swift’s protagonist is in the clear. Again, don’t mess with Tay Tay.
Most Sinister Sentiment: “Good thing my daddy made me get a boating license when I was 15 / And I’ve cleaned enough houses to know how to cover up a scene”
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4. Sufjan Stevens: “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” (2005)
It’s a bold artistic move to write a song about one of the most notorious serial killers in American history. However, Sufjan Stevens ventures out onto even more perilous footing when he takes on a sympathetic tone with John Wayne Gacy. Included on 2005’s Illinois, the hushed, delicate ballad begins in Gacy’s childhood and ends in the secret crawlspaces of Stevens’ own heart. Along the way, he blurs the boundaries we create to protect ourselves from such horrific realities. Stevens considers how crimes like Gacy’s change all of us, suggests that the victims weren’t so different from us, and, most shockingly, admits that he might share more in common with Gacy than anyone would ever want to confess. Our society holds a strange fascination with serial killers; they’re usually a macabre curiosity that we can examine from a safe distance. Here, though, Stevens doesn’t allow us to remain distant, unaffected observers. He puts us in the thick of the disturbing confusion, and the results are both highly unsettling and eerily poignant.
Most Sinister Sentiment: “He took off all their clothes for them / He put a cloth on their lips / Quiet hands, quiet kiss on the mouth”
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3. Eminem: “‘97 Bonnie & Clyde” (1999)
Most therapists probably wouldn’t consider jotting down violent rhymes in a notepad as a substitute for attending anger management sessions. Still, it seems to have worked out pretty damn well for Eminem. The Detroit rapper born Marshall Mathers has built an unrivaled hip-hop career out of saying the quiet part out loud and concocting dark, violent fantasies that leave nobody, including his own loved ones, out of harm’s way. Though 2000’s rage-fueled murder fantasy “Kim” might detail how Em’s ex and the mother of his first daughter, Hailie Jade, ended up dead in the trunk of his car, it’s the aftermath, 1999’s “‘97 Bonnie & Clyde,” that depicts a somehow even more disturbing type of murder ballad. Here, Eminem playfully talks to Hailie as they drive to the beach for some family time, which includes sinking Kim’s body to the bottom of a lake. It’s a mix of creepy, comical, and even sweet as Em speaks gibberish to Hailie and gives her the G-rated version of their current predicament. It’s the type of deranged fantasy and performance that makes Eminem a singular artist and also leaves us hoping that both the police and child services have already been dispatched.
Most Sinister Sentiment: “And Mama said she wants to show you how far she can float / And don’t worry about that little boo-boo on her throat”
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2. The Decemberists: “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” (2005)
It takes little more than a note or two from Colin Meloy’s reedy tenor to signal storytime. Like the aforementioned Cave and his Bad Seeds, Meloy’s Decemberists are naturals at constructing worlds through language and style and then transporting us to those times and places to hear their tales. The murder ballad has become a trusted staple of The Decemberists’ storytelling repertoire across several albums, with no stab at the genre producing a more bizarre or strangely satiating comeuppance than “The Mariner’s Revenge Song.” As listeners, we stow away with Meloy’s protagonist as he gives a bleak and sordid account of how he came to be digesting in the belly of a whale alongside the very man who once brought ruin and madness to his poor, departed mother. With her merciless words gently nudging him from beyond the grave, our seafaring avenger soon shows us that revenge is a dish best served cold, briny, and with ample accordion as the band oompahs faster and faster until the deadly deed has at last come to pass. God, why do I feel like a cigarette after that?
Most Sinister Sentiment: “Drag him to a hole / Until he wakes up, naked / Clawing at the ceiling of his grave”
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1. Norah Jones: “Miriam” (2012)
For all the creative takes found on this list, nobody, maybe not even Cave, has managed to marry the traditional feel of murder ballads with a modern performance as perfectly as Norah Jones on 2012’s “Miriam.” It’s a simple enough concept: husband cheats on wife with a mistress, and now both must pay for their sins. However, simple works here because Jones leaves us hanging on every last word of her performance. In the role of the scorned wife, Jones sings huskily over a chamber pop arrangement co-written by collaborator Danger Mouse. Her singing is part serenade, part interrogation, and part taunt as she promises to “smile while she takes [Miriam’s] life.” It’s delightfully cruel as we sense she’s toying with Miriam and drawing out the proceedings as long as she can, her rightful rage now subsumed by a sadistic pleasure. As the song ends to the wife’s humming and fading music, we can be sure of one thing: Miriam fucked with the wrong woman.
Most Sinister Sentiment: “I’ve punished him from ear to ear / Now I’ve saved the best for you”
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